Such was the environment that greeted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd during his much hyped community cabinet meeting in Bathurst on Monday evening.

The absence of air conditioning saw the mercury inside Charles Sturt University’s auditorium climb to the point where some of the nation’s most senior ministers threatened to quite literally begin to melt.

Attempts to introduce fresh air by opening doors and windows made the situation worse when the aroma of Dynamic Lifter scattered on nearby lawns and gardens wafted into the auditorium.

Some had difficulty pinpointing the origin of the smell.

“Could be the pollies,” one guest chuckled to another.

The aroma and heat were just two aspects that helped make the Rudd Government’s first outing to the Central West a questionable exercise in grassroots community engagement.

Once famously described by Tony Abbott as a “toxic bore”, Mr Rudd did little to prove himself otherwise, on several occasions coming dangerously close to putting audience members into a coma.

Question after question was met with a bureaucratic style rant that left many of the 400 or so attendees scratching their heads wondering if they should have stayed in their air conditioned homes to watch Mr Rudd on The 7.30 Report.

Notable exceptions were parliamentary secretary for disabilities Bill Shorten, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese and Families and Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin.

The trio deserve gold stars for answering questions in a direct and insightful fashion.

A shame Mr Rudd didn’t do the same when a university student gave him a hiding over the government’s treatment of asylum seekers aboard the Australian customs ship, the Oceanic Viking.

“Stop this around in circles business and stop this fear mongering,” the student pleaded.

In a disappointing response Mr Rudd proceeded to give the feisty student the exact same answer he’s given everyone else who has posed the same question since the stand-off first began.

Despite the crowd’s confusion and disappointment with their prime minister’s overall performance, he did have some good moments.

He made a genuine effort to talk to a local disability advocate, touched on the importance of recognising Australia’s war veterans and made some passionate statements about the horrific circumstances driving refugees to flee war torn countries.

It’s unlikely the community cabinet exercise did any damage to the Rudd government in the eyes of Central West voters but a genuine opportunity to boost its credibility in a largely disenfranchised regional NSW was lost on Monday evening.